Editorials
Thursday, April 12, 2001
A collective sigh of relief must surely be in order for the families of the air crew held by the Chinese after their intelligence plane was damaged by a reckless Chinese fighter pilot over the South China Sea on April 1 and they made an emergency landing on Chinese soil. Equally, that sigh of relief can be shared by the crew's comrades, their military commanders and the nation's political leaders. Indeed, all Americans should be proud of the honorable manner in which our 24 compatriots have acquitted themselves in their hour of trial. Air crews’ return
doesn’t resolve
collision incidentThe issue: The Americans
held captive in China are freed,
and set to arrive here today.At the same time, no one should succumb to the temptation to consider this affair over. In one of the few instances in which the Chinese and Americans have agreed in recent days, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Sun Yuxi, was quoted as saying: "It must be pointed out that this case has not concluded yet." Secretary of State Colin Powell in Paris concurred: "This is not over."
For one thing, the United States did not get its airplane back as President Bush had demanded. Nor will it be returned, if ever, until after more negotiations have been completed. They don't begin until April 18 and the outlook is for protracted sessions.
For another, the Chinese, as they have in the past, have put their own spin on the letter from Ambassador Joseph Prueher in which he said the U.S. was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot after the collision. Reports from Beijing indicate that the Chinese translation makes it appear that the United States has apologized -- which it hasn't.
Still another: The United States has agreed to listen to Chinese complaints about American reconnaissance missions. The U.S. response should be simple and clear: So long as U.S. planes stay out of Chinese air space and fly over international waters, where they go and what they do is none of China's business. To think the negotiations will be limited to that would be naive; the Chinese will hammer on this point to get concessions.
Perhaps most important, this incident should strip away the rose-colored glasses with which some Americans view China. That nation need not become an enemy but it is an adversary that should be confronted with a firm posture and well-defined policies at every turn.
As Bates Gill, an Australian specialist on China at the Brookings Institution in Washington has said: "This episode should be a wake-up call to all involved."
COACH Riley Wallace's Rainbow Warrior basketball team achieved a memorable victory this past season by qualifying for the NCAA tournament. For the University of Hawaii basketball program, though, March madness has been replaced by April apprehension, with a damaging if not lethal blow about to be inflicted by the NCAA itself. New rule might
sound final buzzer
on tourneysThe issue: The NCAA
considers a rule that may end
holiday tournaments in Hawaii.The organization's managing council has approved an avarice-driven rule that, if ratified later this month, would almost surely bring an end to holiday tournaments and cause irreparable harm to Hawaii's college basketball. It should be rescinded forthwith.
For years the NCAA encouraged in-season tournaments by providing exemptions from the maximum number of games that were allowed. In the past season, for example, teams were limited to 27 games, but the two or three games each school played in such tournaments were counted as only one.
The exemption allowed Chaminade University's Maui Invitational and UH's Rainbow Classic to flourish, sharing success with the UH-Hilo-hosted Big Island Invitational, Hawaii Pacific University's Thanksgiving Classic and Brigham Young University-Hawaii's Yahoo! Sports Invitational. The tournaments have attracted the best teams in college basketball. Similar tournaments have thrived in Alaska and Puerto Rico.
The NCAA's management council voted to expand the number of games in a season to 29 and to eliminate the exemption, requiring schools to include each in-season tournament game in their total, to take effect in the 2002-3 season. Charles Harris, the council's chairman, said the action was intended "to establish more equitable competitive opportunities" among NCAA teams.
Not really. Like so many policies in college sports these days, this was about money, dictated by the major conferences whose teams can make more by playing two or three games on their home courts than at neutral-court tournaments.
"You'll lose $100,000 by going to Maui vs. staying home and playing two or three games where you can make $800,000," explains Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim, who angrily opposed the change. "You can't do that in today's world. You can't give up that kind of money. That's why those tournaments exist, so they don't count against your schedule."
That's also why those tournaments are not likely to survive beyond next season, unless the proposal is rejected by the NCAA's board of directors, which is controlled by major conferences that can be expected to vote their pocketbooks. Basketball programs at UH and other colleges in Hawaii are underdogs like never before.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
John Flanagan, publisher and editor in chief 529-4748; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.com The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
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